[Life] A Childhood Dream Fulfilled

I fulfilled a dream 2 weeks ago. A real, not-making-this-up, childhood dream. Now before you go thinking big things....I went to see New Kids on the Block. With Boyz II Men. Oh yeah, and that other group 98 Degrees.



Now to some of you, that might not be a big deal...I mean, most of the New Kids' audience is definitely in the 30-45 age range just due to the time they were relevant (almost 25 years ago!?). Anyway, 3 things to note:

1. I did not care very much about 98 Degrees. Yes, Nick Lachey is hot. Yes, some of their songs (ok, one song, Give Me Just One Night) were huge when I was in college and have fun memories associated. But they were a late 90s-early 2000s group, which puts me a bit out of the fangirl age range. So, I guess it was kind of cool, but not what I went to the concert for.

2. My very first concert was in 1991, and MC Hammer was the headliner. (Ok, seriously, is that not the best first concert ever??) TLC was the first opener (think Baby, Baby, Baby time of their career. Pre-Waterfalls). Boyz II Men was the second. I loooooved Boyz II Men. Maybe because they were from Philly and I grew up there. I don't know. But all I can say is it was so cool to see them again 22 years later. Yes, 22. And they are amazing vocalists!

3. NKOTB was my jam back in the day. I was the 1989 equivalent of the of today's Beliebers or One Direction crazies. The 80s version of the 90s N'SYNC-BSB fangirl. I had an NKOTB telephone (no, not cell phone - legit landline corded phone). I had NKOTB sheets. I had a button the size of a small plate with Jordan Knight's face on it (he was my fave and future husband at 10 years old). I used to have dreams about winning New Kids tickets and be so very, very sad when I woke up and didn't have them. Really. I had that dream. So last night - BOOM - fulfilled. And on top of it - I really enjoyed their new stuff they played!

I hadn't realized how many of NKOTB's songs were slow until last night. They did a lot of covers. They took a lot of breaks (I mean, these guys are in their 40s...I can't imagine a 2 hour show is easy to do without a few costume changes and "timeouts" as my friends and I called them, haha). They were high energy and at one point took a break while Joey spun around on a spinning disc at center stage while pelvic thrusting, as two of the other guys picked up the screen cameras and played camera man for an entire random current Top 40 song.

Overall, it was so much fun. A great trip down memory lane and some very entertaining things indeed - the old Hangin' Tough hand wave, the old dances, Donnie Wahlberg randomly making out with some chick in the audience (and losing his shirt for an entire 3 songs). Jordan Knight still has his falsetto. It was such a trip.